Michael Mann Off To The Spanish Civil War

Were you aware that Public Enemies did not in fact tank at the box office, despite a widespread assumption that the Johnny Depp-Michael Mann movie nearly killed Universal this summer? It netted $97 million domestic and another $98 million overseas, making it a higher worldwide grosser than District 9. Who knew, right?

So save the snark you intended for Sony, as they pick up Mann for his next project, a biopic about war photographer Robert Capa, who captured the Spanish Civil War alongside his lover and fellow photographer Gerda Taro. According to Variety the film will be based on the Spanish-language novel Waiting for Robert Capa, which Jez Butterworth will adapt from Susana Fortes' book.

Mann, of course, got all kinds of Oscary attention for his last biopic, Ali, but it's debatable whether these true life stories really bring out his best work. Still, the Spanish Civil War is an underappreciated one in film, and it'll be fascinating to see Mann's digital photography capture all those whizzing bullets. If it can be a little better lit than those gunfights in Public Enemies, that'll help too.